Maxiell is kind of a defensive threat.. but an offensive one??? .. To what?? to Morris and Asik!!??

Come on man.. I like the hustle Maxiell show last night, but the last 2 years Maxiell has done nothing.. he is giving it all now because this year is his contract year and he want the biggest paycheck possible.

Start Drummond RIGHT NOW... I rather lose games with Knight, English, Monroe, Drummond on the court than with Bynum, Maxiell and Stuckey...

I don't mind Maxiel starting and playing 15 to 20 minutes for now. I'd like to see Drummond get more than 13 minutes, though. I can even tolerate Prince starting if his minutes are kept below 30.

If we had a legitimate true PG to come off the bench, a second unit of TruePointGuardGuy, English, Singler, Jerebko, Drummond is not bad. Between Singler and Jerebko, they can help Drummond defend the paint and clean up the boards. Those two can really run the floor, too. Add English spotting up for threes and a point guard to orchestrate, I think you have a 2nd unit as good or better than most squads.

Maxiell is kind of a defensive threat.. but an offensive one??? .. To what?? to Morris and Asik!!??

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I'm saying that both Monroe and Drummond are 2 way players at center due to their size and strength. It's nice always having one of them on the court.

If they are paired together, then that means that the bench unit will either have Maxiell as a 6'7" center or we will have the Russian in there, who's supposedly a decent defender, but will be a pure garbage man on offense. Adding another center into the mix means that there are less overall minutes available per player.

I don't mind a rotation that starts Monroe, has Drummond come off the bench, and then combines both of them together for the end of the game to provide continuous coverage and also maximize their minutes. It's the Ginobili model.

Ok serious question here folks... We all agree he is the future and the sooner the better. Loved last nights pairing with Monroe.

But I have to ask at his age and lack of real game time, (one year of college) how much do we actually play him this year? 82 games and 30-35 mins will have him dead by January or Feb. Do we run him till his legs fall off then he spends the 2nd half the season playing with dead legs and loss a chance at continued progress or do we limit his mins to the 20-25 mins and maybe a few less in a back to back game situation?

I didn't follow Garnett or Howard when they were rookies, were there mins limited at all? and I wonder what they would say now looking back on it now. What is the best way to balance growth and not burning him out. I thought Monroe was brought along just right IMO....

I think he should continue to come off the bench till the all star break, but he should be the first big off the bench and play more of his mins with Monroe and the starters. If he hasn't slowed down, then give him the starter keys after that and stretch out his mins abit month by month.

I really like Drummond for 25+ minutes off of the bench this year. Let J-Max bang with the starters for 18 minutes a night. When he's ready to start, then start him. I'm not seeing it quite yet. He's the most talented player that I've seen on this team since Grant Hill. Grant Hill played four years of ball at Duke, at a time when serious players spent 3-4 years in school.

But I have to ask at his age and lack of real game time, (one year of college) how much do we actually play him this year?

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Fair question and his minutes are probably about right at the moment (actually played more than Maxiell against the Rockets) - the biggest problem is who he is playing with. Even seasoned vets would have trouble playing with Bynum at the point and either JJ or Max at their side in the PF spot.

Somehow, Frank needs to alter his rotations and get as much time for him with Monroe. When they are together, Monroe can at least provide on the floor guidance and this has easily been the best C/PF combo we have seen so far.

It has to be said and has already been said by others and myself too - we must be the ONLY team in league that doesn't start their potential all-star lottery pick with a team that sucks as bad as ours does.

I think that he's started a few games.
...Even if he was subbing, at least he'd be playing behind Jason Thompson. Thompson is a decent player. After all of these years, I'm still waiting for Jason Maxiell to turn the corner and go from "serviceable" to "decent".

could anyone please explain to me why Drummond is riding the bench and averaging around 10-15mpg? Throw him out there; the team is bad, it's about time to give him a ride, it's not as if he had DHo and Josh Smith locked in front of him.

Drummond is 19. Definitely not ready(kander has something to say about minutes, I guess) to pound vs bigger players in back to back games for more than 10-15 minutes. His body is still growing, tall guyis are usually "late boomers" anyway. I'm not saying Dre is fraglie but don't treat him like um...DHo on steroids. Had Pistons so far played at home 3 games per week - no problem for dre 25 min or so per game, My wild, but rational guess.

when Garnett was 19, he played almost 30mpg for 80 games. Lebron played almost 40. In soccer, young players get ALOT of minutes (soccer is comparable since it is also a "stop and go" sport. Sure, you have players like Kobe and Bryant that played way less, but imho due to other reason than physical fragility (they were simply not ready). I sincerely do not think that age is the issue here. With 19 your body usually is almost best suited to sustain physical pressure, not the opposite.

Wasn't Knight 19 when he began starting games last season? Different type of players with different potential of injury, but you can still limit the minutes. The only reason I can think that Drummond isn't starting is because of the rotations:

Drummond/Monroe -> Monroe/Max -> Max/JJ

...and we should never see the last one. Which is why I am clamoring to see Kravtsov, then it would be:

Drummond/Monroe -> Monroe/Max -> Kravtsov/Max

Also, I read this little exert from silver-tounge today and had to laugh:

The smaller OKC lineup had another effect on the Pistons, too. It pretty much eliminated the opportunity to pair Greg Monroe (17 points, six rebounds) with Andre Drummond, a combination used for the first time this season and to great effect in a nine-point loss at Oklahoma City three nights earlier. In fact, after Drummond gave the Pistons nine highly effective first-half minutes – four points, four boards, two steals, an assist and a blocked shot – he played just three minutes in the second half.

Once the Thunder went small and switched on every screen, leaving Detroit’s big man to be guarded by Westbrook or Sefolosha, Frank went with Monroe, the more polished back-to-the-basket scorer.

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So he is saying we just get dictated to by the other team and have to accept it?!
Sure Monroe may have some trouble playing KD on the defensive end, but then he would have Drum behind him to protect the rim. And on the other end Westbrook or Sefolosha getting Drummond on a switched screen is a problem? Pleeeease.

So far on the season, Andre Drummond has the best defensive rating on the team at 100 and the best offensive rating at 122. Monroe's defensive rating is 2nd best.

Until last night, the Pistons had single worst defensive rating in the league (it improved 3 spots after last night's masterpiece).

If the coach really values defense, then it would seem like playing our best statistical defender more minutes might be helpful. The good news is that Drummond isn't foul prone, so increasing his minutes is very realistic.

Reasons for his #1 ranking on the team so far:
He is #1 in block rate
#2 in steal rate
#1 in total rebounding rate

We've always heard talk of earning minutes and it has never really come to fruition. We've had guys like Afflalo and Amir that did some things well, but they weren't as consistent and there were usually better players in front of them. Now, we have a guy who is the highest draft pick on the team from the Pistons, he's easily the most gifted with size and athleticism, he plays the position of our greatest need, he has his head on his shoulders, and he's leading the team in almost every single useful metric, given the time that he's been on the court.

i.e. he has earned the starting position.

No offense to Maxiell who is playing really well, but being the 23rd best offensive team and 27th best defensive team makes everyone vulnerable to change.

Its not Maxiell that we should be looking at. Its Jerebko. Take jerebko's minutes and add it to Drummonds and you have it. Maxiell has been decent positionally, blocks shots, grabs (few) rebounds) and eats a baby now and then. Jerebko has hustled but has very little productivity to show for it. If you need an odd man out. That's your guy. If Drummond gets into foul trouble, then sub in JJ.

For us to get JJ's potential out there he needs to be a big SF and he can't do that while its Prince and the gang at the Palace.